I'm a recently single Momma to three pre-teen girls, and a lover of anything home decor and beauty related. The House of Smiths is my own little part of the internet that allows me to share and document all of the life that happens under our roof!

53 comments:

I'm totally with you on the gross mold thing. My house is over 50 years old and I am afraid of what we are going to find when we redo the bathrooms. And yes, it does look like a fish, hope it doesn't smell like one too..

Ohhhhh man that sucks. And yes it looks like a fish. I had some mold in Riverton house before we moved to Idaho 2 years ago and I remember being FREAKED out that it was in *my* house. Blech. So I feel for ya.

Why oh why can't projects EVER just go smoothly without any sidetracks for dumb stuff that pops up unexpectedly??? :)

too funny! no, no...i didn't mean it that way. i am not laughing AT your mold situation, i am laughing WITH you...and at your hilarious drawings. i hope you can figure the source of the water leak! i know it's no fun. we actually have a patch of mold growing on the ceiling of our master bathroom, but since we are in a rental house, all i do when i see it is think "ugh--so glad this isn't MY house", and "hmm...i've told the landlord about this 15 times in the last 2 years...what else can i do? man, i'm glad this isn't my house."

Oh I feeeeeel your pain! I've been there... and with TWO upstairs bathrooms! TWO!

We bought our current home "previously loved." Though, I prefer to call it previously ignored. The owners had turned it into a rental property and did not disclose several HUGE repairs they "did" when they owned it. Like... that both upstairs toilets leaked down into the studs... and that the showers were leaking. Our inspector didn't find the issues either.

Thus began our quest to overhaul (we had to go down to the studs in BOTH bathrooms - I could see the bathroom from my downstairs dining room -- eww!) our bathrooms and make our "new to us" house livable.

You can do it, and you'll have the bathroom of your dreams! I hope your repairs are easy and with little effort!Hugs!

So sorry to hear about the mold, Shelley! I'm also an open-mouther when it comes to gross stuff. This may sound stalkerish - I promise I'm not creepy - but I always get excited when I see that little bold "1" next to your blog in my reader. I just LOVE your design style and you always make me laugh! Thanks for blogging!

Whoa! What the heck. Now I know your disgusting four letter word ;) mine is still SNOT, LOL! If there is anything we can do. By next week this illness should be out of here. Let us take your girls overnight. How about next Thursday? Keep us posted. So sorry. Suuuuckyyyy.

hahahah shelley you are hilarious! i love all your doodles. so sorry about the mold problem. i hope you get it figured out and fixed very soon so i can see your bathroom transformation!!! :):):) good luck!

I frequent your blog alot but haven't ever commented. But I had to tell you that what Tonya said is true..it could be worse! 3 months after we had our basement finished, I started smelling something that was "wet" in the closet off the laundry room. I started pulling things out and reached back into the corner and touched something, wet..bumpy..and slimy. Ewwww! Guess what it was?

MUSHROOMS!!!! Gag, cough, sputter...there was mold along with the mushrooms too. On my brand new carpet! I seriously had a mini-freak-out all by myself.

Apparently, a pipe had been punctured in hanging the shelves in the closet and had been slowly leaking for 3 months. I had no idea mushrooms could just grow like that. Don't they need dirt? Don't they need..I don't know..seeds?? I guess it's fungi, so maybe not, but still. Too wierd. And really, really gross.

Ok, well I was reading your post in my reader, and I had to click over to comment (I should do that anyway right??) But you are so freakin funny I can't stand it. And I needed a laugh today. What a sweet little fishy. Just say that it's the Jesus fish, so it will all be ok. :)

I'm so sorry!:( I hope you figure it out. We had a mystery leak before we moved form AZ and tore the wall out twice trying to figure out where it was. It was actually just the drain. It wasn't secured around the pipe because they left of a fitting when they installed it! :P

I can sympathyze...we've redone our master shower, 3, yes 3, times due to different leaks! 2 times the pan, 1 the flange on the drain!!! One thing we did learn-if you want to check to see if it is the pan that is leaking, take the drain cover off, stuff it with rags tightly, fill the shower with a good couple inches of water (not too close to the step in out that it overflows however). Let it sit, and overnight if the pan is leaking you will know it in the morning!! Good luck!!

So sorry about your leak. Be sure to check with your insurance agent before you get too far into the repairs. We had a leak behind our shower (at the shower head) and insurance paid for most of it - the tear out and fix but not the damage that occurred over time but that was just a few rotten boards. Luckily, our house was on a cement slab so nothing below was damaged.

The upside - you found this BEFORE your bathroom was finished. You would have been heartbroken to tear it up again after you had finished it.

Oh Shelley, I'm so sorry about your leak. But you can always find the humor in everything, which is why everyone loves you. Love your pictures and your dad's reaction to the couch. Oh, and that is sooo a fish. It's some kind of sign (maybe that everything will be resolved soon). I feel your stress. Sending happy thoughts. From, your favorite blog stalker!

We have the same exact problem. Just repaired the ceiling below the master bath. Funny thing is our neighbor with the exact house had the exact leak in the exact same spot. Such a bummer. Ours is leaking from the shower head area. Luckily the mold wasn't bad. Thing that sucks is we have 2 options. One to remove the shower/tub insert or remove siding and go in from the outside to repair the leak. What a pain. We had a guy quote us pretty low to fix it. So, we're letting him fix it...lol. I think after seeing your post I'll have him reseal the other potential areas while he's in there. Hang in there.

It's the Jesus fish mark like people have on their cars. It's God's way of saying "it will all be okay Shelley." Good luck. I have the number of a fantastic well-priced professional plumber if you need one!

OK, a liiiiiiittle off topic, but i'm seriously just jealous that you have a storage room! We don't have any such beacon in our house and therefore we have a million things that make us say "where do we put THIS"! Back on topic- so sorry to hear about your situation! I hope your dad is able to find out fairly easily where the leak is from. Aren't dad's the best?!

Okay my favorite part of your post is the fact that you breath through your mouth when there is gross stuff....I am the OPPOSITE, I am afraid I will taste the nasty smell so I makes sure I only breathe through my nose!

Shelley - I'm glad to see you have a sense of humor about it! I was so sad for you when I read your "tweet" today about your shower leaking! Best of luck tonight with your Dad's assessment of the leak . . . keep us posted!

ROFL right now....NOT about your Mold...that's no laughing matter. That couch on the other hand... I lived with a family in college who owned it (the same one) until the cat peed all over it and well... it was curb side and I actually think the trash man took it for himself.....and all I could think when I saw it was ......The couch lives on!

Boo to the mold, but an awesome big smiley face to your drawings!! :] They made me laugh, and I see the fish too!! Your blog is super awesome, thank you for sharing all your neat projects and designs!!

Oh. My. Word. Shelley, you kill me. Your drawing cracked me up...and yes, I see the fish too! And I just have to say I am so GLAD someone in our parents generation thinks that couch is UGLY b/c my parents have one almost identical (did I say one? I meant TWO) to that one and they have GOT to let it GO!! A couch should NOT last 30 years people!! Thanks for letting me rant..sorry about your mold! I hope you find the source without tearing down your whole wall!

Oh my, I FEEL your PAIN!!! We just had to deal with the SAME situation. Luckily for us it turned out to be just the shower door that was leaking and a small crack in the wall. New doors and sealer fixed it. But oh my, when I found the mold I just about had a crazy hissy fit! I hope you can fix the problem fast and easy!

So sorry Shelley, I know just how you feel. Our master bathroom re-decorate project turned into a major bathroom re-do last year when we discovered that the entire wall behind the shower was moldy. As well as the floor underneath. So gross! But now we have new tiles, new shower, and new counter top that I love. Hope something good comes from your disaster. :)

Oh Shelly I understand that frustration more than you even know! Our main floor is upstairs...kitchen, master bathroom... I found a weird growing thing in my craft studio-which is a mess because it's an incomplete project- This weird growing thing is a form of mold that looked like a funky mushroom. It was in a corner, behind a lamp, in the carpet! I FLIPPED!!!!! Really I went berserk-0-hysterical-freaking out about black mold, fungus, allergies (I do have them terribly not being a hypochondriac lol) Long story short, I made the husband rip out an entire wall and the carpet in that corner to see if mold was growing up the inside of the wall. Maybe I didn't make him but I'm pretty sure the screaming hysterics of OMG it's mold and that could be black mold... DO YOU KNOW WE CAN DIE!!! ARE YOU HEARING ME... D-I-E! Yes I will spell out words for emphasis when I'm that freaked out. Maybe a bit much in the hysterics department but good grief mold carries so many germs.

He also had a handy man come fix the dry wall too! lol It was a pipe coming from the kitchen sink that had a very slow leak. My guess it had been leaking for three years. Three years ago I found a blanket that was a little wet in the corner. We couldn't figure out why or how it got wet. It was really strange. It was just slightly damp. We like to think we'd "know" but these sorts of things are sneaky AND gross!

Oh YIKES!! That DOES NOT look like it will be very fun to clean up/get rid of...good luck!! Sorry to say, but I'm happy it's NOT me...I would probably be ready to live out of the CAR if I saw something like that! I wouldn't know the FIRST thing to do about it...at least you had your head screwed on tight enough to deal. Because I am sooo that person that breathes through their mouth when something gross/stinky/unsanitary is floating through the air!! lol Good luck Shelley..hope this gets taken care as soon/cheap as possible!! =)

First, that illustration of the shower scene is too funny! Second, what the heck were you doing with the couch? I hope it was being abandoned in the HD parking lot. And third, grody mold...so sorry. I am been waiting to see the bathroom complete. Boo for mold! Hope it's an easy fix. Later Girl!

Similar situation happened to me TODAY! My kitchen faucet has been apparently leaking for quite some time and I hardly EVER look under my kitchen sink in the cabinet because it's baby proofed and there is nothing really under there EXCEPT my $400 wedding silverware in a gorgeous mahogany box that my Great Grandparents gave me for my wedding! We looked to find the box (Still in the plastic) SOAKED and MUSHY from MOLD!!!! How does that even happen with the plastic wrap still on it?!?!? What. The. Heck.

Long comment-short, my dang box is RUINED and my silverware has been washed and sanitized about 3 times now. :( Luckily the mold wasn't in the drywall or cabinets :)

I'm chuckling at the couch comments. When I saw the picture I thought, "how in the world did someone pick up that couch we dumped at DI years ago?" We'd received the same thing from in-laws when we were married and I covered it as soon as I could and couldn't wait until it was gone out of our house forever. Sorry to see there are more then one of them out there! :)

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